Posted on: June 5, 2008 Posted by: James McQuiston Comments: 0

Carly Simon has been around in some form or another in the music industry since 1971. That’s thirty-seven years, if anyone was counting. “This Kind of Love” is the first album that Simon has released featuring all new tracks in the span of eight years. Hear Music, the official label of Starbucks, has taken that bold step forward and is releasing this album despite the fact that Simon could be a little on the rusty side. “So Many People To Love” is one of the first standout tracks for “This Kind of Love”. Despite the fact that the track has been released in 2008, there is certain timelessness to the composition that could easily make it a classic no matter when it was released during Simon’s career.

The only thing that distinguishes the track as being for a certain time period has to be the chill, post-modern approach to the instrumentation that is present during the track. The deliberate plotting of the song will further tattoo the tracks in the mind and hearts of anyone that has picked up the album or has the chance to hear it at Starbucks. The compositions on “This Kind of Love” has a little bit more of a Latin feel to it than previous Simon albums, and this becomes particularly present during tracks like “Hola Soleil” and “The Last Samba”. This influence is the common thread that runs through “This Kind of Love”, and transforms the disc from being an album of disconnected, single-oriented songs into a fuller album-based effort that is decidedly better than its constituent parts.

It may not be for another eight or nine years before individuals have the chance to hear another disc of new tracks from Simon, but the strong effort put forth on all thirteen tracks on “This Kind of Love” will ensure that individuals have enough in the way of material to listen to until that time when Carly Simon comes out with the next set of recordings. What Starbucks has done here is brilliant: they have a large fan base present in the individuals that already like Simon, and they will undoubtedly bring a number of shoppers of Starbucks into the ranks of fans of Carly Simon. Pick up this album if you want to hear pop of a different era that is still vital, still vibrant, and is still great.

Top Tracks: In My Dreams, People Say A Lot

Rating: 6.8/10

Carly Simon – This Kind of Love / 2008 Hear Music / 13 Tracks / http://www.carlysimon.com / http://www.hearmusic.com

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